Support from local colleges, hospital powers latest Big Event in Americus, Georgia

AMERICUS, Georgia — The first Big Event build in 2024 featured hundreds of enthusiastic hands building a home in partnership with homeowner Emmanuel Robinson and his three children. The vast majority of those volunteers were students and staff from Georgia Southwestern State University.

This year, the Big Event expanded when GSW President Michelle Johnston reached out to South Georgia Technical College to see if they would join the build. They eagerly accepted the invitation, as did Phoebe Sumter Medical Center.

The result is a beautiful new Fuller Center home about a block west of the Robinson home. This is where Tiffany Sims will be able to provide a proper foundation for her seven children to grow and develop. She will now pay it forward as she repays the costs of construction with a zero-percent-interest mortgage that is less than she was paying in rent — even with insurance and taxes included. Those mortgage payments will be used to help another local family get the same hand-up into a simple, decent home.

“It’s a win-win for you, it’s a win-win for this neighborhood, and it’s a win-win for the community and all these people here with all these caring hearts,” Americus-Sumter Fuller Center President Jody Wade said at the dedication before handing the keys to Tiffany. 

“We are a Christian organization,” Fuller Center for Housing President David Snell said. “When we build a house, God is the one who puts it together. We can’t have a house without the foundation being laid by God. When we do these projects, we try to demonstrate the goodness of Christianity. Too often, Christians get a bad name or looked down upon. What we try to demonstrate is that the Gospel is a good thing. It calls us to love one another, and by this project, we’ve got a whole bunch of folks here sharing the love.”